New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-12-25
RUSSIAN FICTION.
ira GENESIS AND SIGNIFICANCE.

OPPORTUNITIES for acquiring information regarding
the personalities of the Russian writer's were par
hcularly good marriage, with a Russian lady OF
rank having brought him into intimate relations
with the educated classes in the country OF his
adoption. A residence of several years in Russia
and an unusual mastery Of the language and liter
ture further qualiii him for the task of criticism
and exposition. IL must. however, he promised
that the American reader of the present translation
will not have the whole Of NJ de Vogue's work be-
fore him. The translator in predatory note says;
Il have found it necessary 10 abridgc NJ dc
vogucs work some Nhat, in orlcr to bring 1t
within cara n prescribed limits" This statement
appears TO throw the responsibility for the abrdg
ment upon the publishers Why they should have
prescribed limits which could not be adhered to
without mutilating the book it is difficult to
understand and the arrangement seems hardly
fair to the large class of readers who dependent
upon TRANSACTIONS for their acquaintance with for
eign literature.
The body of NJ de Vogue's work is taken up with
careful examination OF four Russian writer's;
Gogol. Turgenief Dostoyevsli and Tolstoi. lie in
PRODUCES these studies by two chapters upon the
evolution of Russian literature and these chapters
constitute q clarifying and valuable prelude, ont
lining rs they do the growth of intellectual
ism under conditions very difficult OF comprehen-
sion by the purely Occidental mind. NJ. de Vogue
insists and JUSTLY upOn the necessity of always
taking into consideration the Oriental side OF the
Russian character in estimating the significance OF
Il productions. The Russian does not think in
European grooves, so to speak There are within
him strong Influences working against one an
other. The first urges him 10 revert to ASiatic
lines of action. The second imrels him TO follow
Peter the Great in opening window toward Eu
ropc These conflicting influences, moreover, affect
the Russian character as whole They are &C
countabe for the strange Alterations 81 Savoph
ism end the pa for Western culture whose
manifestations leave the world in doubt whether
the McscOvitc Empire is TO become the dangcr. rer
baps the scource Of Europe will fall into line
with modern civilization. Nor are climatic and
typographical conditions 10 be overlooked in ana
lying this strange people Their short summers
and long winters the pcculiarIsychOlogcal effects
o. their vast plains ana immense forests i'm
portant factors in the national character The
mixture Of gloom, poetic imagination and fatal >n
which characterizcs them proceeds thence largely,
but not wholly. The political conditions also nc
count for much. The habit Of subsection has be-
como hereditary. The sense of lost liberties
brett from every Russian folk-sour and NAV be
read between the lines Of every Russian romance.
That subtle atmosphere of incomplctcncsS; of ma
tiona disappointment because Of the Illustration
OF common aspirations is, indeed, not peculiar
TO The North 1t may be perceived wherever men
are cnslayed. IL has left its traces on many a
page of history. II is as apparent in the plants
of the Hebrew eXiles and prisoners by the waters
of Babylon as in the patriotic literary expressions
Of the modern Italians. writhing under the iron
heel Of Austria. It's note is heard in the pathetic
minor key of the negro plantation songs and
hymns: and the same air Of scarcely conscious
melancholy pervadcs the folklore and song of
Jroio and al. he ricbcSt nd
delicate humor thrills while il starics the OBJ !
server by the incongrGous union Of grave and
gay.
IN the Russian il is complicated, however with |
many other peculiar influences as we nave seen,
and the general result is that strange intense sad
scm-realistic fiction which at present fuscinatcs
Europe. One other factor II is necessary 10 NOTE
II is the necessity imposed upon the Russian writer |
OF employing the parabolic method Absolutsm |
pays u freedom the reluctant tribute Of fear |
BY its repression of discussion. 10y its persistent
endoavOTs to shackle the minds as well as tic
bodies Of its victims. il confcsscs It's Own lniqrlty
II has driven patriotism into Literature. 1t las
Informed that literature with abnormal energy
and purpose. 1t has transformed the novel into
a propaganda. 1t has taught the Russian people
to seek between the lines OF their fayoritc 70
mances the political instruction, suggestion, en-
coumgement, which the press is declared from
aforiing them This is why Russian fiction
possesses an imprcssiyencsS alien 10 that OF any
other nation far from the character OF that of
France England or America; so little concerned
with for literary art.
OF the four great writer's treated OF so ably by
nj. de Vogue, three, namely Gogol Turgencf ana
Tosto have written largely if not altogether
under the stimulus Of patriotic purpose Iolstoi'
it true, has Of late passed into curious mystical
mood, in which his literary genius is obScured and
nuliGed by the working Of "a crude though intense
religious impulse. But his principal works were
published before this cratic mood came upon him,
and he will be Judged by them. Dostoyevsld is
an author TO be considered separately, however.
His tendencies are so morbid that it is serious
question whether hc quite sane. The author
of Crime and Punishment" possessed, beyond
question, the pessimstic temperament III It's most
strongly accentuatcd form. For him the heavens
were hung with black pcrpetually All life
seemed him the life Of the prison, the hospital
OR the swarminr tencmcnt-hOuse Assurcdly
there was warrant enough for at least OF
his gloom and bitterness, for he knew Sibcfa, he
had languished in the fortress dungeons, and the
iron had entered into his soul. But he had no
feeling for nature, no conception apparently that
happiness or beauty existed anywhere; and 1t is
this unmitigatcd sombrcness and despair that
diferentiates him from his contemporaries. For
sheer power for subtle analysis he has few equals
and no superiOrs. But he is essentially morbid
and therefore not fit example OF the progress
the character Of Russian Literature.
II is interesting to observe the nature Of the ties
which bind the Russian nOvelsts 90 the people.
Tolsto was a noble, but the majority Of the prom
ncnt writers have been peasant-bOrn, and even
Tolstoi evidently retains a strong admXture Of
the peasant nature despite his culture. The per !
sonal lives Of these men have seldom been other !
than unhappy and if the facts cited by VI. deVoguc
are authoritative the chief causes Of their misery